Spring 2019 - April

May 14:

The OU Writing Center is closed until June 3rd. If students enrolled in May Spring Session classes need writing help, tell them to email Moira Ozias or Michele Eodice for writing help. They are the only two OU Writing Center staff who will be on Norman Campus until June 3rd.

May 10:

There will be a scheduled infrastructure upgrade that will start on May 13th at 7:00 am for the Intranet and May 20th at 7:00 am for the main libraries’ website. The sites will have intermittent outages during these times. Each of these maintenance windows should only last 2 to 3 hours.

April 19: 

The Writing Center's last day in the Learning Lab for the Spring Semester will be Tuesday, April 30th from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm. The Writing Center's main location in Wagner Hall, Room 280 will be open during Finals Week on Monday - Thursday from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm for drop-ins only.

March 28:

Hello all,
We have some progress on troubleshooting the SoonerCard situation.
It appears that a small number of people are having trouble accessing the LL2 graduate space between 7-9PM.
We have given the circulation desk additional temporary graduate access cards for people to use as needed.
Please be mindful when roving that we do not want to have the doors propped open so please encourage any users that are having trouble to contact an LET team member so that I can troubleshoot. 
Until we have a long term resolution I will be carrying my computer with me so I can look into any issues. Feel free to call/text me so that people are not inconvenienced more than a few minutes to either get ahold of me or get a temporary access card from circ. 
Thanks
Eric

March 14:

There will be no campus partner event next week during Spring Break in the Learning Lab! OU Writing Center will start back up on Sunday, March 24th. UC Action & the STEM Librarians will start back up on Monday, March 25th.

March 12:

Effective immediately...Faculty can now check out a shelf in Zarrow for an entire year with 1 renewal.  Graduate students will still check out for 60 days with 1 renewal.  If you have any questions, please ask Doni.

March 11:

It should be on the Learning Lab calendar, but for this week UC Action Latin will on Tuesday, 3/12, from 5-7 pm instead of on Thursday, 3/14, from 3-5 pm.

March 4

Heads up, per Doni:

Tomorrow's safety/security training has been moved to the Heritage Room in the Union due to a busted pipe in the Scholar's room.

Jennifer

March 1

The Subject Liaison tab has been updated under Contact Information on the User Services Guide.

-Courtney

Spring 2019 - February

February 14

I will be out of the office Mon.-Thurs., Feb. 18-21. Please direct any advanced Circulation-related questions to Doni during this time.

Thank you and happy Valentine's Day!

Jennifer

February 10

Reminder, per the most recent Weekly Update:

Due to planned campus-wide IT maintenance, OU Libraries online services may experience intermittent outages between 10 p.m., Sunday, February 10 and 6 a.m., Monday, February 11.

Jennifer

February 2

At this time, we are up and running on all but two of the WEPA printers.   IT has been working with WEPA to get replacement parts shipped, so I feel good about being back up and running full strength sometime mid next week. Please continue to help people print using the printers near the KIC scanners, or if necessary help users locate the printer in the Learning Lab or in the LL2 workroom.
 Feel free to mail or message me if there are any issues over the weekend.
Eric

February 1

Info about Kanopy from UL Faculty Newsletter: Did you know that the Pioneer Library System also provides access to the Kanopy video streaming service? PLS library card holders may access up to 6 videos per month. Anyone who lives, works, attends school or owns property in Pottawatomie, McClain and Cleveland county communities is eligible for a PLS library card.

Spring 2019 - January

January 31

Per Jenny Watson:

The North Annex is now empty. There are still carts to be unpacked, so North Annex will continue to show as a location until each item is assigned to a box in the LSC.

January 23

UC Action Biology hours begin tomorrow, Jan 24.

Please see the Campus Partner Schedule for more information.

January 21

Per Ashley West, Emerging Technologies Librarian:

The first Digital Skills Hub Event of 2019 will be Jan. 31 (Thurs.) from noon-1:00 in the Community Room. Staff and student employees are also welcome and encouraged to RSVP here: Digital Skills Hub Spring Kickoff.

The Digital Skills Hub is an initiative within OU Libraries to help promote digital literacy across campus. The 'Hub' provides opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration through workshops and presentations offered by experts in the field, as well as an online collective of resources that the University has to offer to help students & faculty be informed about emerging technologies & accessible services on campus.

January 15:

Laurie said that the Richard III History Sleuth assignment is coming up. There's a new professor teaching the course this semester, so she might allow only primary source materials. Laurie is going to double check this, and report back to me. In the meantime, the Richard III handout I created last year for this class should still help you help other students find sources about Richard the III.

Winter 2018 / 2019 - December

December 19

Reminder: Full-time library employees will not be available any days Dec. 22 (Sat.) - Jan. 1 (Tues.). On the days Bizzell is open during this time, only primary service desks and essential departments like Security and Facilities will have services, unless otherwise specified. Some major impacts:

• Alexis has confirmed that Sooner Xpress / ILL won't be processing any requests, so patrons should not expect the usual turn-around time.  A notice will be posted on their webpage.
• Kelly has confirmed that Billing won't be processing anything. Patrons with questions should e-mail libbilling@ou.edu, but they should not expect an answer until Jan. 2.
• Stacks Mgmt. students also won't be available Dec. 22-Jan. 2. Angela has said that Stacks will bring down as many empty carts as possible before Dec. 22 since there will be no one to clear full red carts.
• Circulation will only have student workers, so advanced services usually processed by Doni, Jennifer, or Kelly will not be available until Jan. 2. (If this delay would result in extra fees on a patron's account because of imminent due dates, etc., please tell the patron to e-mail libbilling@ou.edu to request a billing appeal for that amount of the fine)

December 10

Per Sarah:

We will be closing on [Saturday] December 22^nd to accommodate the campus need for a water outage. The website and signage will be updated to reflect this change. 

Thank you

December 6:

In the Discover Local catalog, some books say "Request for Purchase via Sooner Xpress." These books are part of what is called Demand Driven Acquisitions. The document Demand Driven Acquisitions is under the Research Help tab in the User Services Quick Access Links box to help you know how to explain the process and assist patrons when they are looking for a book that is available through a library purchase request.

Fall 2018 - November

November 30: 

Message from Sarah about the First Amendment Audits: 

These audits are citizens exercising their first amendment rights by filming in a public building and then posting their experiences on YouTube, many times by livestreaming it on YouTube. From what I’ve reviewed, the best course of action seems to be ignoring rather than engaging them. When ignored, they film random plaques and books and art but were relatively good about not filming the faces of customers, etc. However, if we get complaints or if they are making you uncomfortable, please ask them to cease filming.  If they refuse to cease filming on grounds of their first amendment rights, rather than continuing to engage, if you are in Bizzell, please call security; if you are in a branch, please call OUPD. And, remember, you are being filmed – remaining calm, respectful and professional is a must. Please also alert your student workers of how to properly respond should this happen during evening or weekend hours.

November 27:

LET students, please leave the TV in the bookmark set to OU Libraries rolling screen. Do not turn the TV to news channels. The Dean's office has received patron complaints about this issue.

November 13:

Good morning!

 I just wanted to let all of you know that we have finished shifting on Deck 5. Deck 5 is now 580.5 – 999 & Dewey Biographies & Deck 4 is 378.76 - 580.5.

 Jenny Watson

November 7:

Please be aware that we've received confirmation that OUR's Undergraduate Research Ambassadors will continue to host office hours in the Learning Lab until the end of this semester.

November 6:

Tim Smith and I need help testing the AI chatbot, SoonerBot, on the libraries’ development site. Try thinking of questions that fall under READ Scale levels 1 & 2 (i.e. where are the bathrooms, how to search for journals, what are the hours of operation?). Tim said that when you are testing if you would use the thumbs up and down feature to let us know what was helpful and what was not helpful!

November 2:

Cari Roberts has made some updates to PRIMO/Discover that allows people to find items in Native American languages as well as Braille items faster. Please review the Braille Books Discover Local Catalog handout and the Native American Languages in Discover Local Catalog handout under the Research Help Tab in the User Services Quick Access Links Box.

Fall 2018 - October

October 31:

UC Action canceled their ECON sessions on Mondays. Magen updated the campus partner schedule information in the User Services Information Box.

October 18:

Students enrolled in Dr. Kimberly Marshall's Religion in Everyday Life class might visit one of the Bizzell's service desks to get help on their assignment. Magen uploaded a how to document called "Religion in Everyday Life Assignment" to the Research Help Tab in the User Services Quick Access Links Box. The handout goes over Kristal Boulden's search recommendations. If students need help finding sources during times when the Learning Lab is not open, please use the handout for guidance on helping students.

October 8:

Added separate Bomb Threats tab to Emergency Procedures & Information box for easy access.

October 5:

OUR will not be open in the Learning Lab this Sunday, October 7th. However, the Writing Center WILL be open in the Learning Lab!

October 2:

UC Action has canceled their BIOL sessions on Wednesdays starting tomorrow, October 3rd. I've updated the User Services Information Box.

October 1:

Students participating in the Level Up program sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services will take part in a campus wide scavenger hunt that will include the library on October 18 between 3:00-5:00 pm.  We normally do not answer scavenger hunt questions at the service desks, but in this case we will.  There will be 4-5 groups of about 4-5 students.  Please assist them as you can.

Fall 2018 - September

September 27:

Debby asked me to give everyone a quick reminder that food delivery-people are not allowed to freely come into the library to make deliveries, and patrons are not allowed to order food to be delivered to locations inside the library. You are expected to stop delivery-people walking past the gates if there is no guard around. I have created a Building Policies box on this page with a tab for Food Deliveries that has additional instructions.

Jennifer

September 27:

OUR changed its starting hours on Wednesdays from 4:00 pm to 3:00 pm. I've updated the Campus Partner Schedule Tab in the User Services Information Box.

September 26:

UC Action changed its ECON starting hours on Mondays from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. I've updated the Campus Partner Schedule Tab in the User Services Information Box.

September 25: 

Updated the LET Calendar tab with working URLs and a complete list of calendars that LETs monitor for events that a Patron/User might be looking for.

September 19:

UC Action changed its CHEM hours on Wednesdays from 3:00 pm to 2:00 pm. I've updated the Campus Partner Schedule Tab in the User Services Information Box.

September 19:

Good afternoon!

 Stacks Management has started shifting books from Deck 4 to Deck 5. Our goal is to condense the contents of the Decks enough to leave Deck 1 empty. The shift will take quite awhile, so I don’t plan to update all the signage immediately. Right now, only the contents of Decks 4 & 5 have changed. As we finish each deck I will update the website and then work with Chelsea Julian to update all the signage when the full shift is finished. The endcap signs for each range will be updated as we go. If patrons have trouble finding anything, Angela or I should be able to help.

Jenny Watson

Head, Storage and Delivery

University of Oklahoma Libraries

405-325-1918

September 14:

OUR changed their Learning Lab Hours on Sundays, and added hours on Wednesdays. Please see the User Services Information Box with more information!

September 10:

Updated the text of the Lactation Room tab in the Maps and Important Locations box to make it clearer that the Lactation Room Request Form link is something we need to provide to OU-affiliated nursing mothers who would like to access the room but don't know how. Also arranged the box tabs in alphabetical order for ease-of-reference.

September 6:

UC Action added another subject session for the semester. The new session is UC Action Chemistry and its on Wednesdays from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm. The chemistry sessions begin September 19th. I've updated the User Services Information Box. 

September 4:

UC Action added another subject session for the semester. The new session is UC Action Latin and its on Thursdays from 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm. I've updated the User Services Information Box.

Fall 2018 - August

August 30:

Ashley and Magen have moved offices. We moved from 149 to LL108N (next to Eric's office).

August 23: 

There's been an update to OUR's Learning Lab hours. OUR's peer ambassadors will be in the Learning Lab on Sundays-Tuesdays & Thursdays.  Magen updated their hours in the User Services Information Box. OUR will also be hosting workshops in the new mobile classroom, and those hours have been noted in the User Services Information Box by OUR Workshops.

August 21:

Magen updated the campus partner hours in the User Services Information Box. Learning Lab students, please see the Campus Partner Tab in the Learning Lab Procedures, Policies, & Duties Box for table assignments.

August 17:

New Weekly Refresher Quizzes will be posted by Jennifer on Monday evenings, starting August 20, and will have deadlines of 1 week. Please also begin working on the Canvas Course, and aim for finishing 1 module per week.

Note: The Refresher Quizzes are designed for Circulation students, but there will always be some useful content for Peers and LETs, too. There will also always be an explanation about what material to review in advance, and never be more than 5 questions. Good luck!

August 13:

The Writing Center's hours have been updated in the User Services Info box. 

August 6:

Updated the LET quick access guide to include a new way to log transactions.     https://ou.libinsight.com/public-service-desks   SUMA has been discontinued.

August 3:

UC Action's fall hours in the Learning Lab have been posted to the User Services Information box. Magen will post UC Action's table assignments in the Learning Lab tab when she receives the fall schedule from the other campus partners. So far, UC Action is the only campus partner who has sent in their fall schedule.

Summer 2018

August 2:

Laurie Scrivener's office is changing on AUGUST 10th. Magen updated the Subject Liaisons (Librarians) tab in the User Services Contact Information box. The Subject Liaisons (Librarians) tab also has the subject assignments for the new science librarians—Claire Curry, Amadnda Schilling, and Brent Tweedy. Please review this information.

July 26:

Added a link to the LET area for campus network alert status website & setup redirect of the LET guide to the User Services Guide.

July 24:

The Purdue Owl changed its URL for their citing and writing help page (You all might have seen this announcement in the UL Weekly Update). I've updated this link on the Research Help Tab in the User Services Quick Access Links Box below. The link is called, "Purdue OWL Citation Help."

July 18:

Welcome to the new guide!